Green Hemp Smoothies

Quite a few years ago, not long after we had first moved down to Cornwall, we drove up to Glastonbury for a weekend.  Having not visited before our plan was to explore a little and see what was there.

We booked accomodation for a couple of nights at ShekinAshram, a short walk from the centre of Glastonbury. I can't comment on what they curently offer as it has been some time since I've visited but, there was vegan food only allowed on the premises and Monday was a day for fasting.  The people who were running the Ashram were healthy, vibrant and appeared to have lots and lots of energy.  They all seemed to be happy and peaceful people.  

It was at Shekinashram that I was introduced to hemp milk.  They provided jugs of fresh hemp milk made from whole hemp seeds to have with muesli and fruits and they would also serve green hemp smoothies. Those who lived at the Ashram always started their days with hemp milk and they raved about the benefits.  Over the couple of days we were walking around Glastonbury we were quite literally being handed hemp milk fliers by shop owners, all giving information about what I wonderful source of nutrition it was.  Now I am not a nutritionist so I'm not going to write about the nutritional benefits of RAW hemp, but if you google it and are selective about which links you chose you will certainly find a nutritional profile somewhere.

At that time I was still working in a stressful and unfulfilling job and I was vegan (but not raw), but I saw hemp milk as something else I could start incorporating into our diet to benefit our health.  My approach has always been to add things in along the way and eventually when I felt that I needed to, I made the change to raw foods.  I think my transition to raw wasn't too difficult because I made so many changes in the years leading up to going raw.   

So for many years now, thanks to that stay at the Ashram in Glastonbury, we have been benefiting from hemp milk.  Over time I have come to  incorporate it into our diet in a variety of ways, from flavoured milks, to smoothies and in desserts too.  I find that hemp works particularly well with raw cacao or carob but I find that it works equally well in a green smoothies.  My husband absolutely loves hemp milk, in fact when I go through phases of not making hemp smoothies he eventually starts asking me to make them.  He misses them in his diet because he feels so great after drinking them.

These photos are of the green hemp smoothie that we shared for breakfast this morning.  I made just over a litre, which gave us one and a half large glasses each (these glasses really could be likened to bowls).